“A shot that goes in the cup is pure luck, but a shot to within two feet of the flag is skill.” - Ben Hogan
By Ian Hardie
This is another one of those age old questions that a lot of golfers have an opinion on
Or at the very least a preference as to what they like to do
Some golfers leave the flag in at all times when they are not on the green
Whereas others will take the flag stick out as often as they possibly can
Most golfers fall in the middle of the debate
By either taking the flag stick out only for certain shots
Or not even considering the possibility that it might be a good idea at all
I figured the best way to answer this question was to find some type of compelling scientific data on the internet somewhere
Scientific data gathered by testing with a cool robot or something similar to this thing
That gave some impressive answer as to what the best thing to do is
But I haven’t been able to find any
The closest thing I found was a test conducted using short putts
How’s that supposed to give any meaningful data on whether to leave the flag stick in or take it out when chipping?
So as usual you are just going to have to put up with my loosely formed opinion, mixed with 30 years of anecdotal evidence and some fairly basic maths
As maths is clearly outside my specialist area – make sure you read my disclaimer first
Here are the facts as I see them
There are two components in this question that are fixed
The size of the regulation golf hole which is of course 4 ¼” in diameter or 107.95mm
And the regulation size of the golf ball which is 1.68” in diameter or 42.67mm
It turns out that flag stick size – which I always assumed was the same – is not something that regulations actually cover
Flag stick width actually varies – with ½” to ¾” being most common sizes
But in windy areas it is possible that the flag sticks used are much thicker – to stop them breaking of course
So if you happen to play golf in a windy area with really thick flag sticks, you may be able to answer the question for yourself right now
Anyway for the purpose of this post I’m going to use ½” or 12.7mm which I think is the most common size around the world
Which means the first thing we can work out is how much room
Is actually available for the golf ball to go into the hole with the flag stick left in?
Assuming that flag stick is centred and not on a lean at all
We get the following equation which I’m going to do in millimetres (mainly because I have no idea how to express the final answer in inches)
Anyway, we start with the total width of the golf hole which is 107.95mm
Subtract 12.7mm for the flag stick that’s sitting in the middle
Which means that there is 47.63mm left on either side (95.25mm divided by 2) of the flag stick for the golf ball to fit into
The golf ball being 42.67mm in diameter means that as golfers when we leave the flag in
To get the golf ball into the hole without it hitting the flag we have
A massive 4.95mm tolerance to do this with
If you haven’t figured it out already
That isn’t a lot!
There are two other components that are necessary to answer the question
Both of which are the big variables
Obviously the speed the golf ball is travelling has a big effect on the question
As well as the line the golf ball is travelling on in relation to the flag stick and the hole
Which when we are considering leaving the flag in or taking it out when chipping
What we really need to know is whether
The golf ball is heading directly to the flag stick and will strike it head on
In which case the flag stick should stop its movement and assist it into the hole
At virtually any speed the golf ball is travelling
Or is the golf ball’s line slightly to the left or right of the flag stick?
In which case it’s going to strike it with more of a glancing blow
Which according to Wiktionary is more correctly an obtuse blow
If that’s the case then the speed the ball is travelling takes over the line the golf ball is on
As the major factor in determining whether it will go in
We are going to look more closely at this in ‘Should you leave the flag in or take it out when chipping – part two’
Until then
Play well
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